Have you heard about the massive cyberattack on the United Nations in 2021? It led to a great volume of highly sensitive data being compromised. This goes on to show the level of threat that cyberattacks are possessing to the world.

So what can you do to prevent hackers from accessing your network easily? 

Proxies are a great way of fighting cybercrimes. There is a general misconception that proxies are used by hackers in cybercrimes. We are here to correct your assumptions and tell you how your proxy can help you with cybersecurity! 

To understand their relevance against cyberattacks, you must first understand how a proxy server works! 

How a Proxy Works

A proxy acts as a mediator between you and the website you want to access. It takes you to the website after changing your IP address. This ensures that any threat on the website cannot reach your original IP address.

Your system and data will remain safe. Your identity will also remain anonymous during your browsing. Proxies are of many types. The two main types of proxies are data center proxies and residential proxies.

• Data Center Proxies

These are not associated with an ISP (internet service provider) but are routing your data through a data center server. These are cheaper and safer but are shared by many users. So they may get blocked on some websites because of the actions of another person using the same IP address as you. 

• Residential Proxies

These proxies use IP addresses provided by an internet service provider. They can appear as real users of a particular location. So the websites do not block them easily.

Residential proxies from Blazing SEO are a good example of reliable residential proxies. These proxies are more credible than data center proxies as they are not shared with other users.

Now that you have a basic understanding of the working of proxies, let’s see their role against cyberattacks. 

Role of Proxies Against Cyber Attacks

1. Personal Data Protection

Proxy servers can protect your data from being stored at different websites. For example, when you click on an online ad, some of your data from your IP address gets stored with the websites.

This information could be misused for sending you unwanted viruses through your IP address. Proxies protect you from giving away such information by providing you a new IP address.

Let’s now have a look at some common online cyberattacks and how proxies can help you prevent them. 

• Proxies Protect You From Phishing

The 2021 State of the Phish Report highlights that 75% of the organizations around the world experienced some kind of phish attack in 2020. This shows how vulnerable systems throughout the world are. 

Phishing is when hackers can steal your credit card data for their benefit. Such data can be easily stolen from a website you use for online shopping. 

A proxy can help you with this, by not allowing any website to save the information you enter. It might take your time to enter your credit details every time you shop. But it protects you from any online financial thefts. 

• Proxies Protect You Against Identity Theft

Social media has increased sharing of personal information to a great extent. People share about their travel, pets, and even their addresses. All this could be used by criminals to plan an attack on your house or for online identity thefts. 

Identity theft has become very common. Someone can use your identity to lure others and steal their money. Meanwhile, the blame will fall on you.

Proxies shield your private data and the IP address from hackers. Meanwhile, we also recommend that you share personal information on the web with some precautions. 

• Protection Against Social Media Hacking

Social media hacking has become very common. Hackers exploit loopholes in systems to gain access to important social media sites. The government, celebrities, and even businessmen have faced such hacking in the last few years. 

Just last year we had Jeff Bezos’ Twitter account being hacked. The hackers posted false information regarding financial transactions on it. Proxies can safeguard these social media sites by creating a firewall that can only be accessed by users. They also filter content by regulating the inflow and outflow of traffic on your website. 

2. Confidential Company Data Protection

The current pandemic brought remote working to the forefront. Companies are sharing private and confidential information on closed networks with their employees.

However, hackers are employing technologies to hack these networks to get access to sensitive information. Such information can be exploited for financial gains. Proxies are a great way of securing networks and data.

They act as a companion to your other cyber security measures. Proxies add another layer of protection between the data server and your system. 

• Creates Firewalls

Proxies only allow data from host websites to reach your system. When an unknown source tries to reach your system along with this data, it is stopped at a wall (the firewall).

This wall only allows the system to access information that the user consents to. The test of the information is blocked.

Firewalls are also helpful in blocking the websites at the workplace that you don’t want your employees to access during work hours. This may include social media sites or potential virus-containing sites that you know of. 

• Provides Network Security

In remote working situations, different employees are connected to one secure network. They can share private information and work on them with ease. At the same time, this creates a lot of entry points on the network.

These entry points can be exploited by hackers to enter the secured network. Proxies keep your data anonymous by hiding each IP address of your employees. It also creates a firewall to stop someone from gaining illegal access to your private network.

They also help your employees working in different countries to access sites that are otherwise blocked in their countries.

These proxy servers can be coupled with a VPN ( Virtual Private Network) so remote working employees always access the internet through the company’s proxy. This will save any malicious virus from gaining access to their systems. 

Conclusion

Proxies have got a bad name because they provide anonymity. However, some legitimate uses of proxies have now come to the surface. Companies are actively using a proxy and VPN server for safe remote working.

Individuals are also using proxies to safeguard their online activities. Proxies protect their systems from any potential virus attack from unknown websites. It is both affordable and easy to use by individuals as well as businesses. 

Proxies can be used in addition to other security measures, to offer double protection against any kind of cyberattacks.